Conventional lever type electrical connectors, each of which includes a pair of female and male connectors, and is capable of performing insertion with zero frictional resistance between connecting terminals of the male and female connectors, are disclosed in detail in Patent literature: JP-A-10-275653 [PTL 1] and JP-A-08-78095 [PTL 2].
The lever type electrical connector of PTL 2 relates to an improved invention of the lever type electrical connector of PTL 1. The improved invention is directed to ground connection. For example, in a power supply connector used for battery charge for electric vehicles, earth circuits of the female and male connectors are connected to each other before power supply terminals of both the connectors contact each other so that the electrostatic charge of the connectors can be safely removed.
Therefore, specifically, in the lever type electrical connector of PTL 2 in which one of a pair of connectors which are fitted to each other is provided with a temporary lock member, the other connector is provided with a stopper to be engaged with the lock member, the temporary fitting state of both the connectors is held by the engagement between the temporary lock member and the stopper, and terminals housed in the respective connectors are brought into contact with each other by the final fitting of both the connectors to perform electrical connection. In the lever type electrical connector of PTL 2, the earth circuits are connected to each other via the lock means before the contact between the terminals by using the temporary lock member and stopper, which constitute a temporary lock means of the pair of connectors, for the earth circuits, and temporarily locking both the connectors.
However, the drawback of a low insertion force lever type connector 100 of PTL 2 is that a main lever 115 is operable in a state which the connector is not “preset” as in FIG. 17.
Here, the “preset” means that the lever type electrical connector 100 is inserted into a mating female connector 200, and a lock portion 111K of a lock arm 111 is locked to a lock portion 223K inside a tip 223 of the female connector 200.
When the main lever 115 is pulled and operated toward the near side as in FIG. 18 in a state where the lock portion 111K of the lock arm 111 is not locked to the lock portion 223K of the female connector 200, a connector body 113 including a wire harness assembly inside the connector is movable to the front as in FIG. 18, a lock portion 115R of a main lever 115 runs against a lock portion 116R of a release lever 116 in the position of the fitting state, or is locked in a connector non-fitting state. As a result, there a danger that the connector body will not be able to fit to the female-side connector 200 and that the connectors may be damaged.